What’s the nicest thing a stranger has ever said to you?

[Magik01]

Following on from the thread about the strangest thing said, I thought it would be nice to hear some positive stories!

I was at a theme park with DS2 who was about 8 weeks old at the time. We were walking one of the character live shows and he was hungry so I sat and fed him (I’m BFing). A woman came up to me after the show and said “it’s so lovely seeing someone feeding their baby, your doing a really great job.”

It honestly made my day, sometimes it’s the little things!

One day I collected a parcel from the post office before catching my train to work. As I got onto the train, a young woman with Downs Syndrome already onboard spotted me and asked what was in my package. I explained I didn't know and she was very excited, asked if it was my birthday and to open it. When I confessed it was my birthday she told everyone on the train and instructed them to wish me happy birthday which, being English and obedient, they did 😂
Such an unexpectedly joyful journey to work!!

When DDs were little I was regularly complimented on how well behaved they were. Once we took them out for Xmas lunch at a smart gastro pub. The elderly couple at the next table looked crestfallen when we arrived, no doubt expecting noisy, running around little children. They were very pleasantly surprised and made a point of praising DDs at the end of the meal.

On our wedding day DH turned to watch me walk down the aisle. Later, my Auntie told me that she would have given anything for a man to look at her in that way, just once in her life.

I have 2 nice things that happened on trains.

Once I was on a train from Winchester to London having had a falling out with my then boyfriend who was studying there. I was feeling pensive & daydreaming out the window. I had a short pixie hair cut then which I think actually did suit me but boyfriend wasn't as keen (though not the reason we didn't have a good weekend he was just acting like an asshole & blowing hot & cold). Anyway a good looking guy sat opposite me & he was working on his laptop for the journey. As we pulled into the station he looked over at me & said ' i jus y have to tell you that you look great, you look like a person from another era. In a really good way, it's your hair & bone structure'. It made my day and many many years later I still remember it. I did have good cheekbones back then!

Another time myself & a different boyfriend were on a train from Hamburg to Frankfurt. We were about 20 but had been to his sister's wedding so we weren't backpacking or scruffy looking.

A well to do looking business man (suit, overcoat, briefcase etc) sat opposite us & after an initial now & smile he read a newspaper.
We were chatting quietly & we were figuring out how much German currency we had left (pre euro days) we were figuring out the conversion so we'd know in out currency how much we had between us. We had travellers cheques & were deciding if we'd need to cash one in that day or the next.
We came to a stop & the man was getting off, he had to squeeze past me to get out & as he did he placed something on my lap & said enjoy Frankfurt.
When I looked down it was folded up bank notes - about the equivalent of £25 Which all those years ago was a lot of money.
It all happened so fast & by the time it registerd he'd long gone & the doors were closing. He must have thought we were broke / worried about money. It was such a random kind thing to do!

@50ShadesOfCatholic

One day I collected a parcel from the post office before catching my train to work. As I got onto the train, a young woman with Downs Syndrome already onboard spotted me and asked what was in my package. I explained I didn't know and she was very excited, asked if it was my birthday and to open it. When I confessed it was my birthday she told everyone on the train and instructed them to wish me happy birthday which, being English and obedient, they did 😂 Such an unexpectedly joyful journey to work!!

This has made my day.

I helped organise a family get together for my dad's 80th. The family is quite spread out so don't see each other often.

I have an instant camera that I was showing my cousin's children how to use and I also had some bubbles in my bag but ones that don't burst.

I'd met the children before but a couple of years ago so they didn't really know me. As they were leaving the oldest (about 6) referred to me as 'the magic lady'.

I got told by a random man that I smelt 'very nice...like a Digestive'

my very first trip into town after over fourty hours in labour.
Walked there with a pram, twenty minutes
I wasn't a confident mum it all being new.

Two strangers said nice things - one an elderly gentleman in a department store looked over pram and said 'they're a credit to you' which was a lovely thing to say.

Then over the road in Marks and Spencers I had just started breastfeeding and DD was starting to get hungry and I really didn't know where to go.

A lovely lady said to me 'Just head for ladies underwear department love, sit down there and you will be fine'.

So I did. And it was fine. I was so grateful.

I was pushing a trolley with my eldest on the seat and he was looking around, making choo choo (?) noises as he loved trains, a couple of women looked at him and told me he was beautiful. He's quite pretty has big eyes and long dark eyelashes. They were admiring this about him and I said something about him taking after his Dad, they then laughed between themselves and said, 'oh come off it, he seems to have plenty of his good looks from his Mummy.' On of them said that directing the conversation at my toddler DS. As shallow as it sounds it did give me a bit of a boost that day as I was hugely sleep deprived and had my head down feeling pretty sluggish and rubbish about my looks.

@TheTurn0fTheScrew

not long after I'd had DC1 a oldish bloke stopped me when I was pushing the buggy in the park. He said "you won't know me, but I saw you getting on the 345 bus to work each morning. when I stopped seeing you I knew your baby had must have arrived, and I really hoped everything went well. It's lovely to see you both." Warmed my heart, that one.

Oh that's so lovely! My eyes are pricking

I've had quite a few occasions where older ladies have come up to me and told me how nicely behaved my children are. It always seems to happen when I'm a bit at the end of my tether with them, and is such a lovely and kind thing to do for another woman. It's made me determined to do likewise when I am older.

Once a lovely old lady stopped me in the supermarket. My first baby was about 9 months old and in the baby carrier part of the trolly, and we were both wearing bright green coats. She stopped us and said she couldn't let us go by without saying how beautiful we both looked in green!

I was carrying my DS in a sling and had my two other kids with me. I was also carrying a couple of tins of paint and various shopping bags. The woman at the till in Oxfam said "look at how strong you are, and all with a smile on your face. What a brilliant mum you are!" I didn't always feel like a brilliant mum and it made me feel amazing 🙂

In town once a seagull snatched my young son's bakery treat out of his little hand. A lovely lady came and offered to buy him a new one and just generally seemed to care if he was ok.

I had an amazing community midwife, who I still think about now 15 years on. She had been my midwife for my first baby, and I was so pleased she was going to be my midwife for my second pregnancy. My toddler was 18 months old when I found our we were having twins. Everyone I told about the twins looked at me with this sympathetic / slightly anxious look, as if it's something bad to have twins. I was so tired of the "oh, you'll have your hands full with 3 under 3" type comments. Anyway, at one of my antenatal checks my toddler was running up and down the corridor to the delight of the other midwives in the clinic who were helping entertain him while I had my checks. My midwife said to me "imagine if you have another two like that!" and I was just bracing myself for another "won't that be hard work" type comment when she said "won't that just be so brilliant!". I loved her for celebrating my wee family, she really was just a complete source of positivity and encouragement all the way through. She made such a massive difference to me, I still think so fondly of her.

@Alonelonelylonersbadidea bless that woman, that is so so lovely.

It reminded me of another time when I had my first son, my neighbour messaged me saying she had left me something on the doorstep. There were a bunch of flowers and a note telling me I was doing a wonderful job.

@Alonelonelylonersbadidea

Back when my first son was newborn (decades ago), I used to pace the living room with him at my shoulder. Him screaming. Me trying not to cry. For colicky weeks on end. I was a very young single mum, alone in a city where I knew no one.

One day the doorbell rang and there was a lady there with a bunch of flowers. I let her in and she told me how she saw me every day, holding my crying baby, and she wanted me to know that she could see me, that she knew I was exhausted but that this too shall pass and that I was doing a wonderful and hard job breastfeeding.

I had never met this woman before. I sobbed. I put my head on her shoulder and she held me while I cried. She put the flowers in the vase. Made me tea. And left.
I never even knew her name.
Seems dream like now.
I didn't tell her how I'd thought about killing myself and my baby.
That day changed my life.
I'm forever grateful.

@Alonelonelylonersbadidea. That’s a wonderful story that brings tears to my eyes . What a wonderful woman … thanks for sharing

This one's a bit different. A guy was struggling with a tricky door at work and I said, 'I won't be much help - that thing hates me'. He looked at me in real surprise and said 'Of course it doesn't hate you!' and I've remembered that for years as a reminder to be nicer to myself...

When my 2mo was in hospital, a lovely nurse said our baby was so lovely we should have 10 more! 14 months later, in a different state, a homeless person shouted the same thing. I nearly bawled.

I was 19. Pregnant and dressed alternatively. Got quite a lot of judgement back in the day.

I was in a newsagent and an older, black gentleman beckoned to me. He said I looked wonderful and I should never change who I am. I still remember it vividly 17 years later.

Also someone locally told my mum she loved seeing me and my kids about town as we were always laughing and singing together and it was so nice to see. That made me smile.

Walking our ddog and my dc past a huge gated house... Ds's wanted to stop and see the vintage car collection the man was washing.. He came over and spoke to the dc. Very lovely man. Dc were in awe at the cars... The man was quick to point out "your dm is richer having all of you" .
Think I got something in my eye at that moment..

Walking down a long staircase in a pub and someone said you look absolutely stunning.I felt like Cinderella in that moment

My father was having a diabetic hypo in the middle of the street. When he gets too low he gets really combative and refuses food or drink. I was only 20 at the time and I was trying to persuade him to take something, people passing were berating me for being stern with him and I was on the verge of tears. This elderly lady came along; gave the passer bys a lash of her tongue and then basically force fed my father while telling me I was doing an amazing job. She hugged me afterwards and told me that I was a fantastic daughter to my father . She was heaven sent that day .

This thread is so lovely. So needed these heartwarming stories today

I remember a really stressful morning going to college and my 2dds went to the nursery attached.
One was in a buggy and I had the other on my shoulders (no wonder I was so slim as a youngster ) and we were waiting for a bus at the end of a long day to come home. A lady sitting on the bench said something like “what a wonderful mummy you are, it’s not easy studying with little ones but you’re doing your best to make sure they have a good future and you’re such a good role model for them both.”
It made me cry - it really wasn’t easy, I was 21 with 2 small dc, dh (he was dp back then) worked long hours and played quite hard too, I was on my own a lot with them and we lived in a top floor one bedroom flat, all 4 of us.
It was nigh on impossible finding the time to actually do my college work at home, I was exhausted a lot of the time and even though I knew that being at college was the best thing for me, it was shocking how lovely it was to hear validation from a total stranger. I have never forgotten her kind words.

2 things both when I had a young child.
1 Ds about 7 months in his stroller got loads of shopping on the handle bars he starts screaming so I scrambling to get him out and of course the stroller is then tipping over and an old man grabbed the stroller to hold it help me and say don’t worry your doing great.

No. 2 in a children’s hospital my ds has spent a week inpatient having the most invasive tests he’s got a tube coming out of his nose with a box attached to it I haven’t slept for a week he’s 20 months and we can’t get him to eat so I thought at 7 in the morning after a sleepless night decide to take him down to the canteen for breakfast to see if he’d eat while trying to bring the plate to the tray and hold him and the box hes attached to I smash the plate as it was empty the staff ran up to me said don’t you worry we’ll do this You just worry about him I may have cried slightly.

Walking past a church in Spain one Sunday morning an old lady told me I looked like the Virgin Mary. I don't at all but she was so lovely.